I know its a silly question but i started my first batch of blackberry wine yesterday. Its a 1 gallon recipe so i did 5x for 5 gallon and split it in half to go into 2 different fermenters to start. The recipe was a little hard to follow but basically i forgot to add 5 quarts of water total. Will it mess anything up if i add that now or should i wait?
Rookie question about adding water to blackberry wine
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jamesngalveston
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if you need to add the water according to the recipe, I would add it,
then check your sg....after adding the water check sg, and if its really off, add sugar to get it back to where it was...
water will dilute the sg reading.
then check your sg....after adding the water check sg, and if its really off, add sugar to get it back to where it was...
water will dilute the sg reading.
I used i think 4 1/2 but i can add some if i need to....
This is the recipe i used and the water i forgot was adding a quart of water in step 2..
I did everything last night sobit hasnt been 24 hrs yet
http://www.familyherbalremedies.com/blackberry_wine_recipe.html
This is the recipe i used and the water i forgot was adding a quart of water in step 2..
I did everything last night sobit hasnt been 24 hrs yet
http://www.familyherbalremedies.com/blackberry_wine_recipe.html
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jamesngalveston
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you can add your water.......but check your sg... you should have a starting sg of around 1.090 after adding your water, sugar, etc.
Im not really liking this recipe. I will try a different one next time. Is it strange that this recipe calls for adding water and sugar 3 different times through the process? How would you get an accurate reading on the hydrometer ?
Also i went to add the water last night and noticed on one of my fermenters the airlock had been knocked off. I guess my wife knocked it off accidently moving it around when she was doing stuffnin the laundry room. Is this going to be a problem?
This attempt at blackberry wine is turning into disaster. I probably just need to toss this batch.Pretty frustrated. I added 5 camden tablets the first day,sunday. And pitched my yeast per instructions on recipe. Got to thinking about it today...will the camden tablets kill my yeast? It is bubbling some and there is definitely co2 being emitted. Just dont know what to do. Ibuses wild blackberries i picked from my farm. Do yall know how long it takes to pick 20+ pounds of wild blackberries!!
vernsgal
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The camden tablets won't kill your yeast and not having the airlock on right now won't hurt it either. I usually just cover mine with a damp towel and don't use an airlock at this stage.I think I would add all the water and enough sugar to bring you your SG up to 1.080-1.090 now at the beginning instead of in intervals. Not sure why he would do it that way. Also if you have more blackberries I would add those too, I found in general to use 6-10 lbs per gal .As long as it's fermenting it should be ok. If it's still in the 1st few days I would also add some bentonite. I definitely wouldn't write it off.
saramc
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Bnew17....relax! No need to ditch this. The airlock coming off this just started batch is okay. The CO2 is protecting it, plus many of us ferment without an airlock intact for a week or more. I ferment aerobically until my SG has dropped by 2/3 or 10 days, whichever comes first.
On the sugar, this person just does it this way so the yeast are not stressed out, actually not uncommon especially in a high gravity must like this (for me anything higher than 1.095 gets staggered sugar addition instead of one fell swoop). You can easily calculate how the SG will increase by knowing that 1 cup of granulated sugar will increase the SG of 1 gallon by approximately 0.020. Typically have 2.25 cups granulated sugar per pound, so 2.5# per gallon will increase SG by .113, so that gives you a SG of 1.113 just from granulated sugar.
And no issue about failing to add that 5 qt of water, either add it or not, wine making recipes vary, it really is okay.... breathe easy.
I would recommend NOT bottling this per the instructions. Do you know how to go about racking and clearing a wine, like over a period of 4-6 months? If not, we can help you, just ask. Suggested reading www.winemaking.jackkeller.net
On the sugar, this person just does it this way so the yeast are not stressed out, actually not uncommon especially in a high gravity must like this (for me anything higher than 1.095 gets staggered sugar addition instead of one fell swoop). You can easily calculate how the SG will increase by knowing that 1 cup of granulated sugar will increase the SG of 1 gallon by approximately 0.020. Typically have 2.25 cups granulated sugar per pound, so 2.5# per gallon will increase SG by .113, so that gives you a SG of 1.113 just from granulated sugar.
And no issue about failing to add that 5 qt of water, either add it or not, wine making recipes vary, it really is okay.... breathe easy.
I would recommend NOT bottling this per the instructions. Do you know how to go about racking and clearing a wine, like over a period of 4-6 months? If not, we can help you, just ask. Suggested reading www.winemaking.jackkeller.net
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BernardSmith
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Bnew17, Hi. I don't think you need to be too concerned. From what you are saying the yeast you added was not adversely affected by the campden tabs. In fact adding those tabs probably gave the yeast a leg up as it incapacitated other wild yeasts and your yeast will create an environment that favors it and disfavors competing yeasts and bacteria . I am unfamiliar with the specific recipe you refer to but adding more sugar and more water or fruit in stages should not be a problem. You use your hydrometer each time to measure the gravity of what you are adding and then use proportional addition to calculate the total SG. An example: Let's say your SG was 1.090 just before you added the yeast then two days later you added another gallon or 1/2 gallon and the gravity of the addition was the same - 1.090 then nothing has changed . Your wine still has an initial gravity of 1.090. Let's say that you had 1 gallon of 1.090 when you pitched the yeast and you added another gallon of must but the new gallon had a gravity of 1.080 then the total of 2 gallons has a gravity of 1.085 . In other words you simply use proportionality to figure out the "starting" SG.
Now regarding the airlocks, It may be very fortuitous that one or more fell off. I think most folk on this forum would strongly recommend that during the active first week or so of fermentation (until your SG drops to about 1.010) you want to allow the yeast access to air. Preventing access to air with an airlock will put stress on the yeast and anyway you want to stir the fruit and the yeast and water several times a day. In short, I would relax with your wine and treat it as a likely success rather than something doomed and ready for the garbage.
PS, given the amount of CO2 the wine is producing in the first few days and given the narrow opening the gas is escaping from my money would be on the CO2 popping the bung rather than your spouse knocking it over. I would hug your wife for doing your laundry rather than blame her for upsetting your winery - but that's me. Bottom line? ... Relax.The time and effort you spent picking berries has not been wasted.
Now regarding the airlocks, It may be very fortuitous that one or more fell off. I think most folk on this forum would strongly recommend that during the active first week or so of fermentation (until your SG drops to about 1.010) you want to allow the yeast access to air. Preventing access to air with an airlock will put stress on the yeast and anyway you want to stir the fruit and the yeast and water several times a day. In short, I would relax with your wine and treat it as a likely success rather than something doomed and ready for the garbage.
PS, given the amount of CO2 the wine is producing in the first few days and given the narrow opening the gas is escaping from my money would be on the CO2 popping the bung rather than your spouse knocking it over. I would hug your wife for doing your laundry rather than blame her for upsetting your winery - but that's me. Bottom line? ... Relax.The time and effort you spent picking berries has not been wasted.
Sara i know very little...just the basics i guess. Ive only previously made batches of muscadines i grow at my house. With them i would let them sit for a few months before i would rack them. I think i ended up racking each batch 4 or 5 times. I came out with a pretty good finished product as far as having a clear wine.
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Bbew17, don't throw away that Blackberry wine! Listen to above post, Saramac? The blackberry I made was a little weak but otherwise was real nice. So at the final rack I added a bottle of Blackberry brandy. Did that smooth it out & added so much to the wine, so save it, play with it &add to it if you must. Roy
saramc
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Your muscadine wines look great! So around Day 7 you are removing fruit, etc. Add the sugar syrup like recipe says and when your SG hits 1.000 or less, rack it. If you have gross lees (1/4" or more) develop rack it again. You typically rack every two months until the wine is clear and no longer dropping sediment for those last 60 days. Anticipate 4-6 months for clearing. Bulk age, ideally 12 months (Brutal, but true). Before bottling proceed with stabilizing for dry or sweet wine, whichever way you go with this. Do not forget to dose the bulk with k-meta on a quarterly basis.
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Ok i just strained out the spent blackberry pieces and lees. And squeezed all the juice out. I have a guestion. I have almost exactly 5 gallons of liquid right now. I did a 5 gallon recipe and those that have read the recipe i used see where i add 1 pint of water per gallon 2 more times throughout the process. So that means i will add roughly just over a gallon of water to my wine which will give me over 6 gallons for a 5 gallon recipe... Is this ok?
